Recap: Cavs 116, Grizzlies 111 (or, Salvaged from the Junk)

The Cavaliers narrowly avoided trashing a perfectly good effort last night against the Memphis Grizzlies, and ultimately scraped out their eleventh straight victory. For the second straight game, a less talented, broken down and scuffling team (the Grizz had dropped their last 10 coming in) decided that their best chance to put a dent in the Cavs was to junk the game up as much as possible. This meant putting bigs on smalls, much like the Atlanta Hawks tried on Thursday, to slow them down and disrupt their rhythm. While it’s not clear if that had the desired effect, the by-product of the unorthodox moves seemed to be more open shots from the perimeter. In fact, after a week of holding teams under 100 points and under 43% shooting… the Cavs surrendered 114 to the Hawks and 111 to the Grizz while allowing both to shoot over 50%.

Fortunately, the Cavs have the ultimate salvage crane to pull them from the bad loss compactor… and his name is LeBron James. All the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Month did was score his team’s final 13 points (15 in the quarter on 5-8 shooting and 5-5 at the line), upping his league leading fourth quarter scoring average to 9.6. Though, it shouldn’t have needed to come to that with the Cavs holding a 19 point lead with three minutes to go in the third… LeBron’s effort in the end was enough to keep them off of the scrap heap.

From the start, this one had “trap game” written all over it… what with the two teams on the opposing ends of 10 game streaks and Memphis as banged up as they seemed to be. They were already missing PG Mike Conley (as well as a host of others), and even Marc Gasol was a game time decision after apparently injuring his foot against the Spurs the night before. Nothing like getting crushed on the front end of a back-to-back to sap a team’s spirit, right? Well… not exactly. The Cavs started out like win number 11 was all but assured from the tip… and promptly got smashed by the two man wrecking crew of Gasol and Tyreke Evans. Neither one of them seemed to miss in the first quarter, as they demolished the paper thin defense of the Cavs inside and out… sprinting out to a 24-13 advantage against the starters. Then Dwayne Wade and Jeff Green checked in to help pick up the pace and restore some order. Powered by the second unit, the Cavs outscored the Grizz 15-8 to close the quarter respectably down just 32-28.

The Mean Green Machine…

https://twitter.com/cavscentral216/status/937125489017319424

The turnaround continued in the second quarter, as Grimlock and the Dinobots (Wade and the second unit) transformed the former 12 point deficit into a 13 point advantage. Flash was his old vintage self, getting to the rack, posting up and hitting turnaround jumpers, while Kyle Korver went on a La Flama Blanca spree, Jeff Green continued his assault on the rim, and Channing Frye showed off not only his post moves, but also some nifty D on Gasol. While the bench forged the lead, LeBron returned to help build it out further, attacking the rack for three straight three point plays the hard way (two courtesy of former teammate Mario Chalmers). Bron poured in 11 of his game high 34 points in the quarter, including another sublime turnaround jumper at the buzzer (not unlike the previous game against the Hawks). About the only thing keeping Memphis close was the continued heroics of Evans, who scored 12 of his team’s 20 in the period. Cavs led 66-52 at the half.

Vintage Wade…

Wade uses his dribble to get to the rim! pic.twitter.com/38H0NIh1Au

— NBA (@NBA) December 3, 2017

As with many of you here, I flipped over to the Big Ten Championship game at halftime, and subsequently missed large chunks of the second half. Luckily, I was able to go back and check the recording to find out exactly how the Cavs built and then completely blew a 19 point lead. Two factors that really helped the Cavs get some separation in the third were the contributions of JR Smith early… and Dwayne Wade late. JR (who I’m surprised has even played the past few games with the passing of a family member) had one of his better games of the year, and was doing it all in the third. He took his man off the dribble… hit an insane corner three and even had a dunk on a weak side cut of an assist from LeBron. Swish also chipped in some heady passing and solid defensive work. Meanwhile, Wade checked in to help keep things going when the Grizz started to cut into the lead. Yet, that’s where things began to turn for Memphis, as they junked up the game with odd mis-matches, forced some turnovers and started raining threes from every conceivable position in the lineup. Andrew Harrison and JaMychal Green did most of the unexpected damage from deep. The Cavs led 93-82 after three, but you could tell the momentum had shifted.

The long ball barrage continued for Memphis into the fourth, kicked off by Gasol hitting one. The big Spaniard scored nine of his 27 in the quarter, as he punished Cav defenders. Evans joined him, tossing in eight of his team high 31, including two timely triples. Then guys like Jarrell Martin and Dillon Brooks started hitting threes… the latter of which tied the game at 109 a piece. At one point, the Grizz outscored the Cavs 24-6 to come all the way back. But, as previously mentioned… that’s when LBJ decided enough was enough and went into demolition mode to crush Memphis and their dreams of ending their losing streak. He attacked the rack mercilessly throughout the quarter (playing all 12 minutes)… right up until the long two dagger he sank off the dribble to ice the game… helping the Cavs pull out the victory 116-111.

LeDagger…

LeBron in the clutch? What more could you ask for? pic.twitter.com/OjPsBUHW7k

— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) December 3, 2017

The Junk

Even LeBron mentioned in his post-game interview with Allie that this game was a bit of a half step back for the Cavs. One could only infer that he was talking about the poor job the team did defensively, especially on the perimeter. They allowed Memphis to shoot not only 51% from the field, but a robust 57% from downtown (13-23). Eleven of those threes came in the second half (five in the fourth). They also committed the dual sin of underestimating the Grizzlies in the first quarter, and taking their foot off the gas once they had a 19 points lead late in the third quarter. Still, they were able to turn off Memphis’ water in crunch time after they tied it up… so that’s something positive anyway.

The Cavs once again got outworked on the boards, albeit by a smaller margin (36-31). In one of the weirder stats of the season, Kevin Love was the only starter with a rebound (seven total) in the first half for Cleveland. Also, LeBron was without a board at all until the fourth quarter (he wound up with just two total). Tristan Thompson is rumored to be back at some point this week, so hopefully he can help rectify the rebounding disparity… although it remains to be seen what his role will be when he does return.

Jae Crowder and Jose Calderon have both had their moments during the 11 game winning streak… tonight wasn’t a memorable one of them for either of them. Crowder hit just one of the four shots he took (at least it was a three) in 22 minutes, didn’t snag a rebound and looked lost at times on defense with the junked up rotations the Grizz were employing. Meanwhile, Jose is probably being overused in even 14 minutes as a starter. Though he still tries hard, he just is incapable of staying in front of just about anyone… especially someone with the size and speed of Tyreke Evans. The Grizz also switched Gasol and Green onto him several times which seemed to throw him off of his game a bit.

Speaking of Evans… he’s one of those guys who always seems to get up for the Cavs. He shot about as well as I’ve ever seen, hitting 5-7 threes (10-20 overall from the field) for 31 points and 12 assists. Granted, he was frequently wide open on his triple attempts, but he was a force to be reckoned with and the Cavs didn’t seem to have an answer. He’s one of those guys I would have loved to have seen the Cavs somehow pick up in the summer.

Hate to shine a light on this, but the officiating was once again fairly atrocious in this game. There seems to be a genuine degradation amongst NBA refs this season. Case in point, rookie Dillon Brooks basically tried to wear LeBron like a shirt for most of the game… grabbing his jersey, arms, waist… anything he could. The calls finally came at the end of the fourth, but you can see why LeBron has been frustrated enough to earn his first ever ejection recently. There were also too many elbows and hands to the face that went uncalled to count.

Channing Frye dislocated his middle finger on his right hand. He reportedly got it taped up and could have checked back in if needed. Hopefully, it won’t screw up his jump shot.

Channing Frye dislocated right middle finger … taped up. Could’ve returned! #Cavs

— Allie Clifton (@RealAClifton) December 3, 2017

The Salvage

Not to sound like a broken record… but LeBron James was awesome. He’s done everything to earn the MVP chants the crowd at the Q serenaded him with in the fourth quarter. With the former MFQ gone now, LeBron seems intent on not only taking that mantle, but surpassing it. The only blemishes on an otherwise pristine performance were the lack of rebounds and the five turnovers (some of which were the fault of a teammate cutting the wrong direction).

Kevin Love had maybe the most unassuming double double imaginable, but his consistency at the five is really opening things up for the Cavs. Give him 20 and 11 in just 30 minutes with a couple of assists and another charge taken at a crucial moment. He’s also been steadily getting his shot from distance going (3-4 from three on the night).

This was hands down one of the better JR Smith games this year. He was that third scorer the starters needed, chipping in 17 points on 6-8 shooting (4-5 from downtown), but he also contributed across the board with five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Swish made a difference on both sides of the ball tonight.

The bench was stellar yet again, anchored by budding Sixth Man of the Year nominee, Dwayne Wade, who finished with 16 points, four assists and another two huge blocks. Kyle Korver (nine), Jeff Green (nine) and Channing Frye (six) all contributed as well to the 40-23 advantage, and were key to turning the game around in the late first/early second quarters. With each passing game, they appear more and more cohesive in their ability to not only erase deficits, but hold leads and build on them.

Blocked by Grimlock…

"He fed him a leather sandwich!" 😂 @CavsFredMcLeod https://t.co/T680y4puTN

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 3, 2017

The Reclamation

I didn’t talk much about Ty Lue, but he did a solid job with the rotations given the junk ball approach Memphis (like Atlanta before them) was incorporating. It would have been nice to have seen more than six minutes of Cedi Osman, and to not have to play LeBron the entire fourth quarter, but he does seem to have a handle on the limitations of Crowder and Calderon in the starting lineup… minimizing their usage on nights they just don’t seem to have it. However, Lue has some tough decisions looming with the imminent return of Tristan Thompson and possibly even Derrick Rose (who sounds like he’s communicating with the team again). When asked if he’d be installing TT back in the starting lineup, Lue responded with a cryptic “we’ll see.” In any event, it’s going to be a potentially tricky adjustment to re-integrate one, if not two, fairly one-dimensional players back into the team during this lengthy winning streak. Not to mention, he might soon be faced with incorporating a healthy Isaiah Thomas… then the real fun begins…

Luckily for the Cavs, the immediate road ahead is strewn with junkers. Let’s just hope they don’t crash against one unexpectedly…